The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Impatiens plant botanically known as Impatiens×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balbigilac’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Cartago, Costa Rica during December 2010. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Impatiens cultivars that perform well under both sun and shade conditions and have a vigorous, mounded-spreading growth habit.
The new Impatiens×hybrida cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Impatiens flaccida breeding selection coded N796-3, not patented, characterized by its light lilac-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and vigorous, upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Impatiens hawkeri breeding selection coded N788, not patented, characterized by its dark violet-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, mounded growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during April 2011 in a controlled environment in Cartago, Costa Rica.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since April 2011 in Cartago, Costa Rica, Arroyo Grande, Calif., and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.